Mark Palmer

Mark Palmer is the former Marketing Director for Pret A Manger and Green and Black’s.

After studying business and finance at Bath University, Mark began his marketing career as a graduate trainee with United Biscuits, where he worked for 5 years on brands including Hula Hoops and McCoy’s.

Mark became Marketing Manager for Burger King in the UK, where he was responsible for all UK marketing activity alongside running the kids marketing programmes for Europe.

In 2001, Palmer left big business to become the first Marketing Director at Green & Black’s organic chocolate.

During Mark’s tenure sales went from £4m to £30m, driven by a successful repositioning exercise in 2002 which transitioned the brand from niche organic to premium everyday chocolate.

In 2005, the Marketing Society voted Mark Palmer as their Marketer of the Year, and in 2006, Green & Black’s received the prestigious Grand Prix Award for Marketing Excellence.

Green & Black’s was voted the UK’s coolest food brand by Superbrands for five successive years.

In 2012, Mark became Marketing Director of Pret A Manger where he served full time for four years before transitioning to a part time Board advisory role.

At Pret, Mark was responsible for the marketing and creative for more than 400 shops in the UK, US, France and Asia.

Pret’s global turnover is now in excess of £700m and Pret was recently voted Brand of the Year by readers of Marketing Week.

Mark now combines his role at Pret with non-exec and consultancy work on a number of premium food and drink brands.

He is a co-founder of Cawston Press soft drinks, non-exec Chairman of Union Hand-Roasted Coffee and recently appointed as non-exec Chairman of the Primal Pantry – a healthy snacking brand.

Speech titles include:

• Don’t be afraid of a niche market
• How entrepreneurial and big business can work together
• New consumers – how to reposition an existing brand
• Outsourcing and increasing products speed to market
• Spotting opportunities
• Streamlining business
• Thinking differently
• Raising the bar for competitors.